ISL 2022-23: We could’ve been better at marking, creating chances, and finding spaces – Juan Ferrando after loss against Chennaiyin FC

ATK Mohun Bagan’s head coach Juan Ferrando was not happy with his team’s performance and rued the fact that they missed their chances against Chennaiyin FC after his team lost by 2-1 at their home ground at Salt Lake Stadium on Monday.

The Spaniard feels his team needed to react and find a solution but they could not deliver against Marina Machans. Ferrando believes the Mariners could have been better at marking, creating chances, and finding spaces.

The home team took a total of 15 shots, out of which seven were on target. Furthermore, they dominated the possession with 60% but could only find the back of the net on one occasion when Manvir Singh scored in the 27th minute.

However, Kwame Karikari scored in the 62nd minute through a penalty for the visitors to level the score whereas Rahim Ali provided the lead in the 82nd minute.

Sharing his views after the match, Juan Ferrando said in the post-match press conference, “When the team conceded the goals, the players at those moments lost confidence leading to misplaced passes, missing opportunities. And on such occasions it is important to tell them that it is okay and this is football, there are these moments that will happen but it is necessary to react and find the solution. It is not that hard to change the situation because we could’ve been better at marking, creating chances, and finding spaces.”

The Spaniard feels that the team has been creating chances but rued the fact that they were not able to grab them, which led to their downfall.

He added, “When we miss the chances, this is a recurring problem. When we have 5-6 chances, it is necessary to put three of them in the goal, and in this match we faced a huge problem in doing that. This is the reality, we have chances, we finish the play, the team uses the space, creates the space, but then the opponent wins a penalty, and then scores. It is necessary to keep going and keep working.”

Ferrando reckons his players started to lose confidence after conceding the penalty in the 62nd minute and feels it was the turning point of the match.

He concluded, “After the penalty, things took a different mode for the players as the mentality changed, the players started to lose confidence, it was necessary to change (the style of play), try something different, support them. Sometimes, it is necessary to change, this situation is definitely not good for them, and 100% there will be changes in the mentality.”

ATK Mohun Bagan will play Kerala Blasters FC on Sunday at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Kochi.